Friday, July 31, 2015

Book Five in Colleen Coble's A Journey of the Heart series was the one I was looking forward to the most after finishing the previous one. Emmie is my favorite character in this wonderful group of characters I feel as though I've come to know and leaving her story hanging left me anxious to get my hands on this next novella. In A Heart's Promise we see Emmie struggle with her feelings for Isaac and the consequences that those feelings will bring. It's no wonder after being raised by an alcoholic brother, having a manipulative brother like Ben, and then being deceived by Monroe that she's a bit leery when it comes to men. Aside from the husbands of her two closest friends she's had no examples of what authentic love looks like. Isaac is determined to win her over but how long will he be patient? Will a new arrival at the fort change everything for Emmie?

I sincerely hope if you've been reading this series you've enjoyed it as much as I have. I cannot wait to see how Colleen Coble wraps everything up in book six. I'm going to be a bit sad to say goodbye to these characters and their stories.

Book info

About the book:A Heart's Promise (Thomas Nelson, July 2015)

Emmie makes a promise to her friend that, if fulfilled, could mean the end to her dreams of a future with Isaac.

Emmie
Croftner let Isaac Liddle go to avoid telling him about her past. But
Isaac remains determined to win Emmie's heart and hand. Though Emmie
resolves to keep her heart in check, it hurts when she sees that another
woman has set
her bonnet for Isaac.

Then Emmie's dear friend
extracts a costly promise: if anything happens to her in childbirth,
Emmie will marry her widower and raise the baby herself. And it seems
Emmie may have to fulfill that promise. But can she live happily without
Isaac?

Colleen Coble has sold over 2 million novels worldwide. Seagrass Pier,
the third installment in her acclaimed Hope Beach series, marks a new
highpoint for emotion and complexity in Coble's addictive brand of
romantic suspense.

Will the promise Emmie makes to her friend mean the end to her dreams of a future with Isaac? Find out in book five, A Heart's Promise, of Colleen Coble's A Journey of the Heart series. Emmie Croftner let Isaac Liddle go to avoid telling him about her past. But Isaac remains determined to win Emmie’s heart and hand. Can she live happily without Isaac?

Take a day off and head to the beach with a new giveaway from Colleen: five books (books one–five in Colleen's A Journey of the Heart series) and a beach bag to tote your new books in!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A copy of A Heart's Promise

A Lands' End beach tote

A copy of A Heart's Betrayal

A copy of A Heart's Disguise

A copy of A Heart's Obsession

A copy of A Heart's Danger

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on July 31st. Winner will be announced August 3rd on Colleen's website.

I received this book free of charge from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest review.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love is the first of Beth K. Vogt's new destination wedding novel series and it has a different feel than her previous novels. As I started reading it I worried that I might not enjoy it as much as her other ones because the dynamic between Vanessa and Ted felt off from the start. I got the distinct impression that what went wrong in Vanessa's first marriage to Logan was that he chose storm chasing over her and seeing her engaged to Ted, an ER doctor that seems extremely career-minded, appeared to be a repeat of the same situation that led her to divorce Logan after two short years of marriage when they were still young college students trying to find their way in the world. Fortunately the story took a few twists and turns while Vanessa was in Destin planning their destination wedding and I enjoyed it much more from that point forward.

Having been to Destin and Niceville myself I had an easy time picturing all of the scenes there. I've lived through a tornado and a hurricane so I loved that Logan became a storm chaser after a tornado took the love of his life away from his own grandfather. His desire to find a way to predict tornadoes and save lives isn't so different from Vanessa's own desire to help save lives as a paramedic. When a hurricane hits the gulf coast and Vanessa and Logan finds themselves in the same storm shelter, Vanessa is left with nowhere to run and very few places to hide.

The collision of Vanessa and Logan's past with their present lives may have a strong impact on their future. The idea of "what if?" is something I believe everyone can relate to and when face to face with someone you once loved it's impossible not to wonder what might have been. Don't we all look back and contemplate how a decision or decisions altered the path of our life (be it good or bad) in ways we never thought it would at the time? Will Logan and Vanessa look back on their decision to divorce and wonder if they were wrong to give up on their marriage or will Vanessa put Logan behind her once and for all and start a new life with Ted?

I'm anxious to see what's in store for readers in the next book of Beth K. Vogt's Destination Wedding Novel series!

Book info

About the book:Crazy Little Thing Called Love: A Destination Wedding Novel (Howard, June 2015)

Wedding
bells and storm clouds collide in the first engaging novel in a
brand-new series about destination weddings, the power of love, and the
possible mishaps and missteps that happen on a couple's journey down the
aisle to "I do."

Paramedic Vanessa Hollister has put
her adolescence behind her, including the unwanted label of being the
new kid in town over and over again, thanks to her father's military
career. She's overcome what her mother called "the biggest mistake of
her life" and is planning an elegant destination wedding in Destin,
Florida with her new fiancé. But will the reappearance of her first
husband from her what-were-you-thinking teenage elopement disrupt her
dream of an idyllic beach wedding?

As a professional storm
chaser, Logan Hollister is used to taking risks. However, a reckless
decision during the last tornado season has him questioning the future
of his team, the Stormmeisters. Coming face to face with his ex-wife
eight years after their divorce compels him to confront his greatest
regret: losing Vanessa. Does their past give him the right to interfere
with her future?

A fast-moving, powerful hurricane throws Vanessa
and Logan together as they evacuate to a storm shelter along with other
residents of the Florida Gulf Coast. Forced to spend time together, the
pair battles unexpected renewed feelings for each other.

Vanessa
and Logan are faced with a choice: Should they accept, once and for
all, their teenage marital mistake? Or is God offering them a second
chance at happily ever after?

Beth K. Vogt
believes God's best often waits behind the doors marked "Never." A 2015
RITA® Finalist and a 2014 Carol Award finalist, Beth is a contemporary
romance novelist with Howard Books. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You,
was one of Publisher's Weekly's Best Books of 2014. In 2015 she
introduced her destination wedding series with both an e-novella, Can't Buy Me Love, (May) and a novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love (June).

About Me

Suz: Loves running, watching sports and her favorite shows, taking pictures, catching up with friends and family, and talking to people about cows!
Allan: Loves all sports especially wrestling and soccer. He wrestled in college at Auburn and is helping coach at a local high school. Allan currently plays forward for a local soccer team.
This is us-upfront, honest, and mostly from Suz's point of view.